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National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology facts for kids

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National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology
Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann - Seandálaíocht
A rotunda with Corinthian colonnades, fronted with railings and plants.
Entrance to the museum
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Established 29 August 1890 (29 August 1890)
Location Kildare Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
Type National museum
Visitors 370,965 (2009)
Public transit access St Stephen's Green Luas
Dublin Pearse Iarnród Éireann
Dublin Bus routes: 39, 39a, 46a, 145
National Museum of Ireland network

The National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology (Irish: Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann - Seandálaíocht) is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland located on Kildare Street in Dublin, Ireland, and dealing with Irish and other antiquities. In general, the museum covers the history of Ireland from the Stone Age to the Late Middle Ages. Many important artefacts from the museum were featured in The Irish Times feature and book A History of Ireland in 100 Objects.

It features displays on prehistoric Ireland, including Bronze Age work in gold, early medieval church treasures of Celtic art, Viking Ireland and Medieval Ireland. There are special displays of items from Ancient Egypt, Cyprus and the Roman world, and special exhibitions are regularly mounted.

Permanent exhibitions

The Museum has a number of large permanent exhibits, mainly of Irish historical objects and also a few smaller exhibits on the ancient Mediterranean.

Prehistoric Ireland

The prehistoric Ireland section contains artefacts from the earliest period of human habitation in Ireland (just after the Last Ice Age) up to the Celtic Iron Age. There are numerous stone implements created by the first hunter-gatherer colonists beginning around 7000 BC, then moving on to the tools, pottery and burial objects of the Neolithic farmers. Some notable artefacts include four rare Jadeite axeheads imported from the Alps of Neolithic Italy, and the unique ceremonial macehead discovered at the tomb of Knowth. The exhibit then covers the introduction of metallurgy into Ireland around 2500 BC, with early copper implements. From the later Bronze Age period there is an impressive array of bronze axes, daggers, swords, shields, cauldrons and cast bronze horns (the earliest known Irish musical instruments). There are a few very early Iron weapons. Wooden objects include a large dugout logboat, wooden wheels and cauldrons and ancient reed fishing equipment.

Ór - Ireland's Gold

The central area of the museum contains one of the finest collections of Bronze Age gold objects in Europe. The goldwork ranges in date between 2200 BC and 500 BC, most of it probably being jewellery, but with many objects of unknown (possibly ritual) function. In the early Bronze Age most artefacts were made from sheet gold and include sundiscs and crescent shaped collars called lunulae. In the middle Bronze Age new gold working techniques were developed; starting around 1200 BC a great variety of torcs were produced from twisting bars of gold. Items from the late Bronze Age, starting in 900 BC, include solid gold bracelets and dress-fasteners as well as large sheet gold collars, ear-spools and a necklace of hollow golden balls.

See Gold working in the Bronze Age British Isles for more details on this topic.

  • Gold collars ( 800-700 BC) from from Tonyhill in Co Limerick (left) and Co Clare (right)

    Gold collars ( 800-700 BC) from Tonyhill in Co Limerick (left) and Co Clare (right)

  • Gold Dress Fastener of Clones in Co Monaghan (800-700 BC) in National Museum Dublin

    Gold Dress Fastener, Clones, County Monaghan (800-700 BC)

  • Gold Dress Fastener found in wooden box in Killymoom Demesne in Co Tyrone (800-700 BC) in National Museum Dublin

    Gold Dress Fastener found in wooden box in Killymoom Demesne in Co Tyrone (800-700 BC)

Kingship and Sacrifice

Bog-body Clonycavan-Man
Clonycavan Man

This new exhibit (opened in the 2000s) contains many of Ireland's bog bodies, as well as Celtic artefacts. The well-preserved bodies, which have been found in Irish bogs from the 19th century until the present day, are believed to have been ritualistically sacrificed. Eamonn Kelly (former Keeper of Irish Antiquities) developed the theory that the bog bodies were tribal kings, sacrificed by the community after having failed in their kingship and placed in pools of water at the boundary points of the tribal territory. Some seem to exhibit evidence of the so called threefold death practice.

The currently displayed bog bodies are:

  • Gallagh Man (discovered 1821, dated to 400 to 200 BC)
  • Baronstown West Man (discovered 1953, dated to 242 to 388 BC)
  • Clonycavan Man (discovered 2003, dated to 392 to 201 BC)
  • Old Croghan Man (discovered 2003, dated to 362 to 175 BC)

The museum has an extensive research program to study the bog bodies with the latest scientific methods. Marie Cassidy, the then State Pathologist, aided in forensic examination of several of the recently discovered bodies.

Alongside the bodies are examples of the material culture of the period in which they lived (the Celtic Iron Age). These include metal weapons and horse trappings as well as wooden and leather pieces. The Petrie crown (named for George Petrie) is part of a high-status headdress made in the La Tène artistic style. The section also contains Ralaghan Man, a carved wooden figure believed to be a boundary marker and examples of bog butter, which is ancient butter preserved in the bog in containers such as wooden buckets. The museum also possesses several other bog bodies not currently displayed, such as the recently discovered Cashel Man (discovered 2011, dated to ~2000 BC), believed to be the oldest fleshed bog body found in Europe.

See List of bog bodies - Ireland, for more details.

The Treasury

The Treasury exhibit includes such pieces as the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch, as well as the Broighter Gold, the Derrynaflan Hoard and the Cross of Cong, all famous examples of early medieval metalwork in Ireland.

New exhibits, Viking and Medieval Ireland

The most recent permanent galleries to open are Viking Ireland and Medieval Ireland 1150-1550. There are also galleries on "Ancient Egypt", and "Ceramics and Glass from Ancient Cyprus".

Recent temporary exhibitions have included: "Roger Casement - voice of the voiceless", "Rites of Passage at Tara", "Clontarf 1014: Brian Boru and the Battle for Dublin", and "Life and Death in the Roman World".

History

Many of these pieces were found in the 19th century by peasants or agricultural labourers, when population expansion led to cultivation of land which had not been touched since the Middle Ages. Indeed, only the intervention of George Petrie of the Royal Irish Academy, and like-minded individuals from the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, prevented the metalwork from being melted down for the intrinsic value of its materials. Contemporary Irish are more tuned to their heritage, as can be seen in the example of the Irish Bog Psalter, which was discovered and reported by an alert machine operator in July 2006.

The Museums of both the above-mentioned institutions (the RIA and RSAI) formed the basis for the Archaeology and History section of the Museum at Kildare Street. This is the original site opened in 1890 as the Dublin Museum of Science and Art in the building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane and his son, Thomas Manly Deane. Until 1922, this site also included Leinster House, now the home of the Oireachtas.

Gallery

  • Interior of the National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin, Ireland

    Interior of the Museum

  • The Egyptian Gallery at the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

    The Egyptian Gallery at Museum

  • Interior of the National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Kildare Street, Dublin, Ireland

    One of the halls of the Museum

  • Interior of the National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology at Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Another hall with glass cases displaying gold treasures

Images for kids

  • Spillone di tara, da bettystown, contea di meath, viii secolo 03

    The Tara Brooch, c. 710–750

  • Circular (31647815505)

    Columns and domed rotunda at the entrance

  • 20130810 dublin205

    Stairway between the museum's two floors

  • National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, salone del tesoro

    Treasury room

  • River Bann Axehead NMI

    River Bann Axehead, Neolithic period

  • Testa in pietra con più facce, da corleck hill, co. di cavan, I-II secolo dc. 03

    The Corleck Head, a 1st or 2nd century AD three-faced stone head found in Drumeague, County Cavan, Ireland c. 1855.

  • Decorated stone from Loughcrew, Co Meath (2500-1700 BC) in the National Museum Dublin

    Decorated stone from Loughcrew, Co Meath, 2500-1700 BC

  • Lunula d'oro e due dischi d'oro, da coggalbeg, co. roscommon, 2200-1800 ac ca

    Gold lunula, Coggalbeg hoard, 2200-1800 BC

  • Gleninsheen gold gorget

    The Gleninsheen gorget, Co Clare, c. 800-700 BC

  • Gold collar ( 800-700 BC) from Co Clare (detail)

    Gold collar, Co Clare, 800-700 BC

  • Placca della crocifissione, in bronzo, da st. john's rinnagan, contea di roscommon, viii secolo

    The Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque, late 7th or early 8th century

  • Moylough Belt-Shrine Front view 2

    The Moylough Belt-Shrine, 8th century. Discovered in a bog in Sligo in 1945

  • Calice argenteo, da derrynaflan, contea di tipperary, ix secolo, 03

    Chalice from the Ardagh Hoard, 8th- or 9th-century

  • Processional Cross, National Museum of Ireland (B)

    The Tully Lough Cross, 8th or 9th century. Bronze, gilt and tin mounted on wood

  • Derrynaflan chalice

    Derrynaflan Chalice, 8th- or 9th-century. Part of the Derrynaflan Hoard found in 1980 near Killenaule, County Tipperary.

  • Reliquiario del corp naomh (sacro corpo), argento e bronzo con cristallo di rocca, da Templecross, co. Westmeath, x poi xv secolo, 01

    The Corp Naomh (sacred body) bell-shrine, 10th and 15th centuries

  • Croce di cong, da cong, contea di mayo, 1100-1125 ca. 06

    The Cross of Cong, early 12th-century

  • Campana di san patrizio e il suo contenitore, da armagh, co. armagh, VI-VIII secolo, poi 1100 ca. 02

    Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell, c. 1100

  • Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm NMI

    Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm, c. 1118–1121. A reliquary made of wood and metal shaped as an outstretched forearm and clenched fist.

  • Reliquiario del dente di san patrizio, del xii e xiv secolo, in oro, argento, lega di rame, cristallo di rocca su anima lignea, da athenry, co. galway 02

    Shrine of St Patrick's Tooth, 12th and 14th centuries

  • Spilla celtica penanulare in bronzo, da arthustown, co. di kildare, vii-vii secolo

    7th century penannular brooch, bronze, Arthurstown, County Kildare

  • Spilla celtica penanulare, da ballinderry, co. di offaly, 610 dc ca

    Ballinderry Brooch, c. 600, one of the most complexly designed and important of the surviving early brooches

  • Spilla celtica d'argento, da rathlin island, contea di antrim, ix secolo

    9th century silver brooch, Rathlin Island, County Antrim

  • Kilmainham brooche NMI

    The Kilmainham Brooch, late 8th- or early 9th-century. Its design was influenced by both Pictish and Viking metalwork.

  • Spilla celtica penanulare, da ervey, contea di meath, ix secolo

    Penanular Celtic brooch, County Meath, 9th century

  • Ballyspellan & Loughmoe Brooches

    Viking-made kite-pins found in a trove near limerick, 9th or 10th century

  • Spilla celtica anulare, in arghento, da roscrea, co. di tipperary, ix secolo dc

    The Roscrea Brooch, 9th century

  • Lough Erne Shrine 11th Century

    The Lough Erne Shrine, 11th century. The smaller but similar shrine was found inside the larger container.

  • Shrine found in the River Shannon

    Drawing of a shrine found in the River Shannon, c. 9th century

  • Earliest Irish harp on the Breac Máedóc reliquary

    Gable of the badly damaged but important Breac Maodhóg, showing the figure of a harpist. Late 11th century

  • Saint Manchan's Shrine (S1)

    Saint Manchan's Shrine, 12th century

  • Contenitore del messale con iscrizione al 're' d'irlanda donnchad, 1030 ca., dal monastero di lorrha, co. di tipperary, 02

    The shrine of the Stowe Missal, showing openwork patterns

  • Cassetta di libro sacro di san cairneach, lati dell'xi secolo e fronte del 1534, in argento dorato e filigranato con cristallo di rocca su anima di legno, da clonmany co. donegal

    Shrine of Miosach, 11th century. May have once contained a manuscript with psalms or extracts from a Gospel

  • Shrine of the Cathach

    The Shrine of the Cathach of St. Columba, 11th century

  • Soiscél Molaisse (St. Matthew)

    Detail from the 11th century Soiscél Molaisse showing St. Matthew

  • Reliquiario di dohnach airigd ('chiesa d'argento') tradiz. donato da s. patrizio a s. macartan, viii secolo, poi 1350 ca., da clones, co. monaghan 01

    Panel from the Domnach Airgid, an 8th-century wooden reliquary reworked between the 13th and 15th centuries.

  • Prosperous Crozier 1

    Prosperous Crozier, late 10th or early 11th century

  • Crozier of Dysert O'Dea

    Crozier of Dysert O'Dea (or St. Tola's Crozier), 11th century

  • Crozier Head, NMI

    Crozier head (fragment)

  • Bastone pastorale di lismore, 1100 ca. 05

    Lismore Crozier, c 1100

  • Figurina di crocifisso in lega di rame, da baltinglass, co. di wicklow, xii secolo

    Copper-alloy crucifix figurine, County Wicklow, 12th century

  • Figura di crocifisso in lega di rame dorata, 1360 ca., irlanda

    Gilded copper-alloy crucifix, c. 1360

  • Figura di crocifisso in lega di rame dorata, 1470 ca., irlanda

    Crucifix in gilded copper-alloy, c. 1470

  • Pendente a croce in argento dorato, 1500 ca. 02

    Gilded silver cross pendant, c. 1500

  • Pendente a croce in argento con vetro e granati, 1500 ca., dai pressi di callan, co. di kilkenny

    Silver cross pendant with glass and garnets, c. 1500. Found near Callan, County Kilkenny

  • Pendente con crocifisso a tau, in argento dorato, 1500 ca., dai dintorni di waterford, irlanda

    Pendant with crucifix, gilded silver, c. 1500, County Waterford

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